Our pick of the best productivity, tech & digital wellness gifts

The holiday season is when we definitely want to disconnect and be more mindful about how we spend our time. It also serves as a great reminder that technology is actually wonderful! Intentional, conscious use of technology can enrich our lives, bringing us closer to our loved ones – especially at this time of year.

With that in mind, we have come up with some gift suggestions that will help bring more joy, fun, creativity, and good habits in 2023, and help you tune into a year of focus.

These gifts have been inspired by our community and our team, we hope you like them!

1. Tidbyt Personal Pixel Display

The original idea for Tidbyt was to make a device that simplified people’s morning routines. What time is it? What’s the weather like? When does the next subway depart? Having to reach for our phones over and over again to answer these questions is a pain, not to mention a huge distraction!

The solution? A simple LED display device that cycles through your most important apps, so you can spend less time looking at your phone and more time doing… anything else.

Use Tidbyt to check the weather, or when your train is arriving. Track your favorite stock tickers, or your favorite sports teams

2. Day One Journalling App

Day One is a simple journaling app to bring more clarity, gratitude, and peace of mind to your day, and encourage mindful daily routines. With a gift subscription, you can share the clearer thinking, deeper gratitude, and calmer soul that come from journaling with your loved ones.

3. Atomic Habits Squire Pens

Based on James Clear’s bestselling book, Atomic Habits, these special edition Squire Pens each feature a key idea from his teachings. Included inside every box is a pocket-sized habit tracker to help you on your habit journey. A perfect daily reminder to implement those small but mighty micro-habits.

Read more about Atomic Habits in our interview with James Clear

4. Freewrite Traveler Offline Drafting Device

Traveler is a dedicated drafting device for anyone who writes, without the distraction – or temptation – of browsers, email, or notifications. Get in writing flow and develop more prolific writing sessions by separating the drafting and editing processes. When it is time to edit, your drafts wirelessly sync to the cloud for export into your software of choice. Push your productivity forward and tap into writing joy!

5. Amazon Kindle Paperwhite

While the experience of reading an IRL book will never be surpassed (in my humble opinion), a Kindle is a great gift for the avid reader in your life. With the ability to hold thousands of books, Kindle is a personalized, portable library. It’s a cost-effective, environmentally friendly option, with the bonus that it is specifically dedicated to reading so you won’t be distracted by notifications, as you would when using a phone or tablet.

Kindle Paperwhite is thin, lightweight, and travels easily so you can enjoy your favorite books at any time– and it’s waterproof, meaning you’re free to read and relax in more places—from the beach to the bath.

6. Samsung Galaxy Watch 5 Pro

The perfect gift for outdoor adventurers, this smartwatch by Samsung can analyze your exercise pattern and helps you manage your health. It comes with a variety of convenient apps for making phone calls, playing music, and of course, the essential Google maps and GPS, leaving you free to explore without the need to be constantly looking at your phone.

Friend of Freedom Justin Benson recommends this as his favorite tech tool – it saves him from using his phone all the time!

7. Garmin Varia Bike Radar & Tail Light

We’re quite an active bunch at Freedom, with marathoners, yogis, and cyclists among our number, and this next recommendation comes from Freedom CEO Fred – it’s been his favorite tech gadget for three years running! This rearview radar with tail light pairs with your bike computer or compatible smartphone to alert you of vehicles approaching from behind, so you can ride with peace of mind.

Listen to our podcast with pro-cyclist and philosopher, James Hibbard

8. Light Phone II

The Light Phone II is a premium, minimal phone. It will never have social media, clickbait news, email, an internet browser, or any other anxiety-inducing infinite feed.

Great for staying connected without being sucked into distraction, the Light Phone calls and texts, and has a customizable menu of simple tools with a dashboard website to manage everything. There is a headphone jack and Bluetooth, and it can also be used as a personal hotspot.

Listen to our podcast with Light Phone founder Kawei Tang

9. Digital Habit Lab Deck

The Digital Habit Lab is a deck of 56 experiment cards that help you take back control of your tech. Created by Digital Wellness experts Mind Over Tech, the experiments help you identify and build the habits that will put an end to digital distraction, anxiety, and burnout. Each deck gives you access to 10+ hours of coaching videos from Mind over Tech founder Jonathan Garner—taking you deeper with templates and practical examples.

Listen to our podcast with Mind Over Tech founder Jonathan Garner

10. Mistobox Personalized Coffee Subscription

We love coffee at Freedom, so much that we have a dedicated Slack channel! For the caffeine junky in your life, Mistobox will select different blends based on your tastes, which are then roasted to order and delivered to your door! It’s the perfect kickstart to a productive morning routine.

11. Endel Premium Subscription

Endel creates personalized soundscapes to help you focus, relax, and sleep. It reacts to inputs like time of day, weather, heart rate, and location, adapting the soundscapes in real-time, helping to improve focus and lower stress.

Read more about how ambient sound can help with focus and productivity

12. Freedom Gift Subscription

We’re making 2023 our Year of Focus, helping people to make a long-term commitment to being more present every day. For Freedom, focus is not an end goal but a state of mind that brings more depth, meaning, and enjoyment into our daily lives.

If you would like to join us in our mission and give the gift of focus to someone in your life, then a Freedom gift subscription is the perfect option!

Read more about Freedom’s Year of Focus